In the past, the loading and unloading of magnetic tapes has always occurred at system zones located at the beginning of a tape. The Beginning of Tape [BOT] loading zones reflected a desire to avoid loading or unloading the tape over recorded data, thereby avoiding potential loss of data in the event the tape was temporarily stretched or permanently damaged during loading or unloading operations. Also, there was a desire to avoid recording over previous load/unload areas, due to the belief that the area was rendered unreliable for subsequent recording and reproducing at the desired level of system performance. BOT system zones and format arrangements create several problems.
Since there is only a single area at the beginning of the tape for mechanical operations, the tape has to be completely rewound to the beginning to allow loading and unloading of the tape. This requires additional time and effort on the part of the user. Additional problems are introduced with the use of rotating scanner contact recording for computer peripherals. One problem is the wear caused by the scanner during indefinite wait periods, sometimes called "still-framing" where rotating scanner contact recording is used in a video application. Another problem is the potential damage from thread and unthread of media from the rotating scanner. One prior method forced air between the scanner head and a magnetic media to reduce contact while the thread media was not in motion. The mechanisms required to supply the volume of forced air required to achieve lift of the tape adds greatly to the manufacturing and maintenance costs of the peripheral recording device. Moreover, this method does not ensure media safety for thread and unthread operations, since uneven tensions on the tape during these operations can reduce the effectiveness of the forced air in separating the scanner head and the media. Thread and unthread away from BOT is thus at an increased risk to data storage.
A further problem arising with system zones presently used is that they lack support for information regarding the use of variable partitioning in tape formatting. Thus, there is no way for the host to determine volume formatting from the system zone itself. Additional systems are required to supply information or instruction of the peripheral recording device in regard to partition size and location. These systems create additional expense and complexity beyond the traditional costs associated with interchange media for computer systems. Since this information also is not present away from beginning-of-tape, current methods limit the ability to complete the loading of a variable formatted medium away from beginning-of-tape. Returning to beginning-of-tape requires additional time and effort on the part of the user, as well as wear on the peripheral recording device and the media itself.
Thus, a need has arisen for a method of formatting multiple system zones on a magnetic tape such that the system zones contain volume formatting information and allow for non-BOT mechanical operations of the magnetic tape.